Newsletter

Sheriff's Office: Man tased after setting fire to Burger King uniform

ORTIZ, TIMOTHY ALEJANDRO

Deputies arrested a 24-year-old St. Johns County man Wednesday who, they said, set fire to his uniform after being fired from a Burger King.

According to a report from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, witnesses told authorities that Timothy Alejandro Ortiz, after being fired, walked out of the Palencia fast-food restaurant and set his hat and uniform shirt on fire. Those items were supposed to be returned to Burger King after termination, according to authorities.

He left the burning items on the ground and walked away before getting into “several arguments with the managers and customers who saw what happened and called the Sheriff’s Office,” the report said.

By the time deputies arrived at the Burger King, Ortiz had left the scene.

He was later contacted outside his home, where he yelled and cursed at one deputy, the report said. When he grew more aggressive and refused to be handcuffed, the deputy fired his stun gun, but the probes did not stick to Ortiz as he was running away, the deputy said in the report.

When the deputy reloaded his Taser to fire again, Ortiz returned to the deputy and allowed himself to be handcuffed, according to the report.

Ortiz was booked into the St. Johns County jail on charges of damage to property, resisting an officer without violence and disorderly conduct.